* NOSTALGIC SUNDAY *

It's Time for Another Nostalgic Sunday!

 

 

 

Yay! It's October and we've finally had some cooler temperatures here at the new homestead. I LOVE fall, as I've expressed many, many times on my blog! The leaves aren't changing colors yet, so I'm posting photos from times past....thus, the Nostalgic Sunday post. :)

 

 

 

 

These three pictures were taken on November 13, 2012...almost four years ago. It seems like a lifetime ago, and it seems like just the other day. Our lives were in the midst of changes, big changes, and the downsizing began.

 

 

I miss that house sometimes, and the happy memories that were made there, but one of the best things about "happy" memories, is that they go along with you, no matter where you are.

 

When I think all the way back to every house/apartment I ever lived in, I miss every one of them for various reasons(except the two crappy apartments in Germany...thank goodness we lived in nice ones the majority of those years) And even during those years of unhappiness and loneliness spent with my first husband...I have fond memories of the places we lived, because I enjoyed so much of how I made each of them into a "home." Does that make sense?

 

I've told Ron many times over the years that I would be happy living anywhere with him, no matter how small or old the place might be, and that's how it's always been and I know it always will be.

 

 (P.S. The new background photo is one I also took around the same time.)

 

 

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

* A HOME IS GONE, BUT NOT THE MEMORIES *

This is a photo of my Grandma Louise & Grandpa Harl Dorsey on the left, and my Great Aunt Grace & Great Uncle Albert Foster on the right. (Louise & Grace were sisters.) It was taken near the side of my grandparents' house in Greenfield, Iowa. I still love that small town, and visit it often, where I spent magical vacations as a little girl during the 1950s and early '60s.

Greenfield, Iowa - 1950s

It's the only photo I could quickly locate, but hopefully I'll come across a few more later. I'm so terribly sad and have actually shed some tears, because I learned this past Tuesday, Sept 8th, that it BURNED DOWN. (No cause known at this time.) It had been bought, and sold, and rented over the years, and was in pretty bad shape, but I'd always dreamed of having enough money someday to buy it and renovate it back to the beauty and charm it displayed all those years ago.

I wrote about these four lovely ancestors in several chapters of my memoir, "From Pigtails to Chin Hairs," and how much they meant to me. The following is the last paragraph in the chapter, "A Timeless Journey."

       The furniture, pictures on the walls, and old-fashioned knick-knacks were always the same: crocheted doilies here and there, roller shades on the windows, white sheets on the beds that smelled like sunshine, and Grandma’s quilt with the little, yellow sunbonnets on it. This was a place where time stood still—no matter how long between visits—and always surrounded me with feelings of love, comfort, and home.

The next time I visit Greenfield, I think it will be difficult to not drive along SW 2nd Street, the way I've always done before, looking for that familiar home, but I'm also sure it would be very depressing to see an empty lot. Only time will tell.

* WE'RE HOME *

I'm definitely in one of my "What day is it?" modes. We moved into our townhouse on Easter Sunday, so I feel like Easter hasn't even arrived yet. I was at Walmart yesterday evening, picking up a few essentials.....shower curtain liner, cheapie toilet brushes, etc....And especially a can opener because we haven't found ours yet! ....and the young checker asked me how my Easter was. I had to stop for a minute and think....Uhhh, I didn't know Easter came and went already....and then I remembered....

We love our new home ....it's not a "new" townhouse, but it's new to us and I can't wait to make it completely ours. Vern has adapted really well, too, which we wondered about. The biggest obstacle...so to speak.... right now, is the maze of boxes on our living room! He's managed to squeeze through and find a place to rest and chew on a bone, or up on the couch next to us!

I'm not sure how soon we'll have internet at home, so I'm at the Bread Co right now, accepting their free wi-fi! The past few days I've been using my cell phone for texting and e-mailing, and even some web browsing, so I am HAPPY to be able to use my laptop for a little while. And it's a minor miracle that I even found my laptop and plug-in cord.....in two separate boxes! 

The main thing I just have to find today is my makeup and hair spray!!!!! I've been looking like an old hag, and I'm not exaggerating one bit!!

That's it for  now. Thanks to everyone who has left recent comments and also for recent e-mails. I hope to attempt to catch up.....someday. 

AND I'm rarin' to go to finish those last few sentences in my memoir, and add the photos!!

I'll be thinking of y'all as I unpack...

The Ronald and I definitely have wonderful friends who have given us a hand, in more ways than one. 

Have a beautiful, blissful day!

"I always tell my kids if you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going, someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you gotta keep your feet moving." -- Morgan Freeman